Evidence shows that children and young people who are more active have more confidence, higher self-esteem, less anxiety and stress and better social skills – attributes that can help them deal with the challenges they face in daily life. Positive attitudes towards physical activity have also been associated with children being happier.
The media reports may give the impression that this study refutes previous thinking that social media use can have a detrimental effect of wellbeing. In fact the findings don't seem to be so clear cut.
The study found that social media use is linked with reduced life satisfaction, while less social media use is linked with greater life satisfaction. But the links were very small and may not be significant.
The study has a number of limitations.
The UK's Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) does not set time limits for different age groups because there's a lack of evidence.
They recommend that parents should approach the issue on a case by case basis, rather than trying to use a "one-size-fits-all" approach.
This study is not particularly persuasive.
The overall difference between children using screens for more than 2 hours or less than 30 minutes was tiny: only a 2.2 score difference in their attention problem scores.
Though the children using screens for more than 2 hours had a higher risk of clinically significant attention problems or significant ADHD symptoms, these problems only affected around 1% of the whole study sample. So these are very small numbers
The dramatic decline in the popularity of smoking since the turn of the millennium could largely be the result of increased education and awareness of the harms of smoking, and that it's now less socially acceptable, particularly since the smoking ban in public places.
But what will be of concern to some is that while teens may be less likely to try smoking or think it acceptable, there may have been a massive increase in the perceived acceptability of vaping and the number of teens who have tried e-cigarettes if they'd been asked about it in the surveys.
Research by Oxford University academics has found little evidence of a relationship between screen time and wellbeing in adolescents.
Based on data from more than 17,000 teenagers, the study casts doubt on the widely accepted notion that spending time online, gaming or watching TV, especially before bedtime, can damage young people’s mental health.
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It's no surprise that having children disrupts parents' sleep. However, it is surprising that the change is so long-lasting, with sleep not having recovered to pre-pregnancy levels 4 to 6 years later.
The study provides interesting information to quantify the amount of sleep loss parents experience, and how that changes over time.
It does have some limitations, mainly that the sleep information is based on self-report, not backed by technical measures.
This study supports earlier studies that the MMR vaccine has no link with the risk of autism.
It follows a 2014 review that pooled the results of 10 observational studies on childhood vaccine and found no evidence of any link between the MMR vaccine and autism.
The strength of this study is that it follows a large number of children. This makes the findings more reliable when assessing a fairly rare outcome like autism, and reduces the possibility that the findings are down to chance.
Following a systematic map of reviews, the CMOs for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have concluded that there isn’t enough evidence at the moment to back evidence-based guidelines or any cap on screen time. However, they recommend a precautionary approach and action by schools, government and technology companies to protect children and young people. The UK CMOs call for a duty of care to be established and for a voluntary code of conduct to be agreed ahead of government legislation.
The advice commends the RCPCH's Screen Time Guidance, published in January 2019, and echoes much of our advice to parents.
There is not enough evidence to confirm that screen time is in itself harmful to child health at any age, making it impossible to recommend age appropriate time limits, says the first ever guidance on children’s screen time to be published in the UK.
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For the first time, The Health Survey looks at links between parent and child obesity. RCPCH responds saying it is a "cycle of life that can have terrible consequences to the health of entire families for generations".
The study adds to evidence that eating family meals may be a way to help improve diet quality, for teenagers and young people as well as for younger children and adults. This could be because other research suggests that meals prepared and cooked at home are likely to be nutritionally better quality than those from takeaways or fast food restaurants.
This week (12-18 November 2018), Action on Sugar is hosting National Sugar Awareness Week. Over the course of the week, organisations are joining Action on Sugar to raise awareness of the health impacts of consuming excess sugar (and calories) with the hope of educating the public to help them to reduce their consumption. This year's theme will be "Eating Out".
The study provides a valuable insight, but medical records may not have provided the full picture – they may not have captured all the reasons why a tonsillectomy was performed.
The findings highlight a need for clearer and more up-to-date guidelines for GPs to follow about when to refer children for tonsillectomies.
Parents wanting to avoid "pester power" might want to think about restricting the amount of time their children spend online, as well as watching commercial TV.
But it's important to note that we don't know whether these results mean TV or internet use directly causes obesity or increased junk food consumption.
Obesity and diet are complicated, and many different factors are likely to be involved. For example, parents have a big influence on children's diets, as well as on how much TV and internet use they're allowed.